Liquid egg products provide consumers with a convenient food product that exhibits desirable shelf stability and organoleptic qualities substantially similar to whole eggs, without the hassle of preparing whole eggs. Consumer expectations generally drive the demand for variety within liquid egg products, especially as liquid egg products become increasingly accepted by the consumer population.
However, while additional ingredients may be desirable, the characteristic altering environment of liquid egg products can cause detrimental alterations to some ingredients. Ham is given a cured color by the interaction of nitrites and myoglobin, but the characteristic altering potential of egg whites interacts with the characteristic cured red color of the ham product, leaving the ham product an undesirable color. For example, ham exposed to a liquid egg environment loses its cured color and becomes an undesirable color, such as green, gray, and black. Moreover, this interaction affects the flavor and texture of the meat product. The characteristic altering environment of the liquid egg product may be generally defined as a liquid environment that alters and/or degrades the interior and exterior color, flavor, and/or texture of a meat product during storage in the liquid environment and during and after heating and/or cooking after storage in a liquid environment. The oxidative environment of the liquid egg product may cause these alterations. For example, a liquid egg product may be predicted as oxidative by measuring the electrochemical potential of the liquid egg product.
Consumers are informed of freshness and desirability by a food's interior and exterior color, flavor, texture, and odor. Unexpected colors are negatively perceived by consumers. Therefore, these alterations, such as changing the cured color of ham from red to green, may be negatively perceived by consumers resulting in unsatisfactory sales of specialized egg products.
Food processors spend great effort in working a lengthy temporal period of stability into their products. This effort is expended for both economic and safety reasons. It is apparent that retaining palatability is desirable to consumers, vendors, and processors alike, as it allows finished products to retain their value for a greater period of time. Further, pre-expectation spoilage may make the product undesirable during subsequent purchasing opportunities. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a meat product that does not appreciably change interior and exterior color, flavor, and/or texture as an ingredient in a liquid egg product.